It was wild out there on the Steamboat Dance floor, Peggie put on her blue had with flashing LED lights and did the twist, Bonnie right behind her, Alice and Julie right alongside of them. Everybody had to take a break after that dance. Everybody had a blast.
Alice has weakened over the past year, she uses a walker to move around the Mansion, and she can’t walk far. I thought it was a miracle when she stepped out onto the dance floor to dance the twist with Julie Harlin, the Mansion Activities Director.
Everybody started clapping and Alice saw the camera and winked at me. It was a wonderful thing to see her dance again, she told me she loved to dance and had not danced in years. “This may be my last dance,” she said, “I couldn’t say not to it.”
Miracles happen when people are noticed, loved and paid attention to. I would not have thought Alice could dance any longer, and I hope it is not her last dance, she is so sweet and kind. But it if is, I am so glad she got to have it.
Mary and Alan in the Congo Line
Mary and Alan are two of the most quiet people at the Mansion, they are most often alone, and rarely speak. I’ve rarely seen Alan doing any activities or talking to anyone, and Red and I visit Mary in her room, she speaks in a soft whisper, if at all.
I was startled to see the two of them join a Congo Line on the steamboat dance floor, surrounded by exuberant ladies from the Red Hat Society.
The staff and I look at one another, it was a wonderful example of how people change when brought into the outside world and given the chance to have fund and bring out the hidden or submerged parts of themselves.
“Take a photo of this,” one of the staffers urged, “nobody back at the Mansion will believe it.” I hardly believed it myself.
Peggie and Kassi went out on the deck together and spent a long time staring out at the water, talking to each other, guessing who the rich people were who lived in the big mansions, and sharing the beautiful day with one another.
This kind of time is rare at the Mansion, where the staff is so busy, and the residents are less active. It is hard to replicate the experience of being outside and free in such a beautiful space as a boat on a lake, I was pleasantly surprised, ,even shocked, at how different everyone was outside of their daily lives.
Everyone kept telling me again and again how much they loved the boat and wanted to come back.
Peggie loves to dance, and so does Kassi, so at the end of the boat ride, I asked if they wanted to do a video of the two of them dancing. They did. This was love you can see and almost touch, a special world.
The residents don’t know it, but every time one of them decides to take a walk, a staffer follows at a discreet distance, to give them privacy but also to make sure they are safe. Madeline went off for a walk, and a couple of minutes later, Julie yelled, “Jon get your camera, Madeline has picked up a bunch of handsome young men.”
She was in the middle of a circle of waiters and stewards from the boat.
And it was true. Madeline had found a group of men to charm.
Well into her 90’s, was born in an orphanage in the Bronx, and she has not lost her New York accent or daring. When I got there, she was surrounded by five or six young men, all of whom were laughing at her stories, they loved talking to her.
“What are you doing?,” I said feigning outrage. She laughed. “Oh, just taking a walk,” she said innocently.”What kind of trouble could I get into?,” she asked, “I’m as old as God.”
